UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONS

HOD 1200

Summer 2003

M-F; 1:10 – 3:00 pm

Payne 110

Instructor: Isaac Prilleltensky, Ph.D.

Professor of Human and Organizational Development

Mayborn 102b

Office: 343-4144

E-mail: isaac.prilleltensky@vanderbilt.edu

Teaching Assistant: Scot Evans, M.Ed.

Office: 293-6971

E-mail: scotney.d.evans@vanderbilt.edu

Resources

We will use three primary texts dealing with organizations and individual behavior in the organizational context;

1. Bolman, L.G., & Deal, T.E., (1997). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (Hereafter B&D)

2. Hayes, J. (2002). Interpersonal Skills at Work (2^nd Edition). East Sussex: Routledge. (Hereafter H)

3. Goleman, D, (1998). Working with Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam. (Hereafter G)

Course Description

Every Vanderbilt undergraduate has experienced the joys and frustrations of human organizations. You know the love and support families provide; many of you also have felt the pain of family disharmony or divorce. You have dealt with bureaucratic hurdles since you arrived on campus, as well as with Vanderbilt’s efforts to make you feel a part of the university. You enjoy fraternities and sororities, clubs, or athletic teams, but you also become confused and frustrated when conflict or unexpected complications arise.

The benefits and frustrations, ups and downs of life in human organizations do not cease after graduation. Nearly all of you will seek a career in a business, hospital, school, place of worship, or some other organization. Even if you become an isolated artist or an independent contractor you will spend considerable time dealing with human organizations of one type or another (airlines, retailers, restaurants, government agencies, etc).

In many ways, our destinies and happiness are shaped by human organizations. Consequently, those who are able to understand and influence collective events will be happier, more certain, and more prosperous than those who find organizations confusing, unwieldy, and uncontrollable. The success of your career, family, and life will be shaped in part by your knowledge of organizations and your leadership abilities.

In this course we will examine how different types of organizations affect your life. We will draw on your personal experiences and make connections between organizational contexts and your own life.

We will use a variety of learning methods, including lectures, movies, documentaries, student presentations, discussions, and observations of actual organizations. Without your active participation in the course your ability to learn will be diminished. Hence, we will make an effort to elicit from you knowledge you already have about organizations and how they affect your life.

We believe that you all have something important to contribute to class. Developing your presentation skills is an important part of the learning process. Contributing to class discussions is another crucial dimension of learning. We look forward to hearing from you!

Objectives

This course is designed to help you understand organizations of all types and to develop your abilities to deal with groups in complex formal and informal settings. During the course you will:

· Become acquainted with general theories of organizations

· Understand how to apply theories to organizational practice

· Develop an awareness of different types of organizations

· Develop interpersonal skills for working in organizations

· Develop presentation skills

· Develop analytical skills and problem solving abilities for organizational issues

· Develop strategies for “reframing” organizational dilemmas in order to formulate recommendations for action

Requirements for the Course

Attendance & Participation

Attendance and participation are absolutely the top requirements for this course. Students are expected to attend all classes and to be on time. Two late arrivals will equal one absence. Participation in class will be assessed based on three main categories: 1) Your leadership of one class discussion on readings; 2) Your short 20 minute presentation of a chapter of your choosing; and 3) Active participation in class and group discussions. Guidelines for improving your participation grade may be found in attachments A1, A2 and A3 at the end of the syllabus.

Reading

This course requires extensive reading in a short period of time. The Bolman & Deal book is an easy read and will serve as the foundation for our study, and the other two books will support our exploration of emotional competence and interpersonal skills in the workplace. You are expected to have read the assigned chapters in each book before each class.

Tests

You will have two tests in this course. The mid-term will cover mainly the four frames outlined in the Bolman and Deal text and the lectures on wellness during the first week of class. This test will cover classes 1 to 13 inclusive. The final exam will tie together all the concepts of the frames, workplace skills, and address some of the other aspects of leadership and management covered at the end of the course. The last test will cover all the classes, readings, and lectures.

The tests will be a combination of multiple choice and short essay questions. You are expected to study the main concepts and ideas in the readings and class presentations. All tests will cover material in the chapters assigned from the books and class lectures. Guidelines for improving your test grades may be found in attachment B at the end of the syllabus.

Field Project and Paper

This is an opportunity for you to work alone or with classmates on a project in which you study an organization here in town. You will identify an organization and request permission to observe some of their operations and to interview some of their staff and managers. You will interview one manager and one other staff person using questions about the four frames that you have prepared with the help of classmates. You will also observe the organization and assess them based on what you know about the frames. You will develop a paper based on your findings and use the course text and outside sources to support your conclusions. Guidelines for the field project and the paper may be found in attachment C at the end of the syllabus.

Grade Breakdown

Class Participation (including attendance) 30%

Class discussion leadership 5%

Class presentation 10%

Attendance 5%

Class participation 10%

Field Project and Paper (paper 25%, presentation in class 5%) 30%

Mid Term Exam 20%

Final Exam 20%

Grade Scale (rounded off)

97-100 A+

93-96 A

90-92 A-

87-89 B+

83-86 B

80-82 B-

77-79 C+

73-76 C

70-72 C-

67-69 D+

63-66 D

60-62 D-

<=59 F

Honor Code

The Vanderbilt Honor Code governs all work in this course and implies that what is presented to the instructor, as the students' own work is in fact in their own words. It is imperative that students are careful not to "borrow" phrases or sentences from source material. This is plagiarism and will result in a zero for that assignment. However, student cooperation in developing paper topics, proofreading, and group projects is encouraged.

Students with Disabilities

If you have a learning or physical disability, or if you learn best by utilizing a particular method, please bring me an official letter from the Opportunity Development Center (2-4705) explaining your specific needs so that I can make appropriate arrangements. I can only do this successfully if you discuss your needs with me in advance of the assignments. I will maintain the confidentiality of your learning need.

Class	Topic	Reading	Student presenting	Student leading discussion
WK 1	Wellness Frames		Starting class 5	Starting class 5
1 - 7/8	Course outline and expectations Overview of wellness
2 – 7/9	Personal and relational wellness	G 1,2
3 – 7/10	Organizational and collective wellness Video: Introduction to organizations	G 3
4 – 7/11	Wellness in organizations Presentation skills	H 7
WK 2	Organizational Frames
5- 7/14	Overview of frames Video: Managing disaster	B&D 1,2
6 – 7/15	Structural frame Videos: Control	B&D 3,4
7- 7/16	Structural frame Video: Apollo 13; Modern times	B&D 5
8- 7/17	Human resource frame Video: Management	B&D 6,7
9-7/18	Human resource frame Video: 9 to 5	B&D 8
WK 3	Organizational Frames
10- 7/21	Political frame Video: Conflict	B&D 9,10
11- 7/22	Political frame Video: Malcolm X	B&D 11
12- 7/23	Symbolic frame Video: Henry V	B&D 12,13
13- 7/24	Symbolic frame	B&D 14
14- 7/25	Midterm
WK 4	Skill Frames
15- 7/28	Intrapersonal skills	G 4,5,6
16- 7/29	Interpersonal skills Video: Emotional intelligence	H 2,3
17- 7/30	Listening skills	H 4,5 G 7
18- 7/31	Influencing skills	H 8, 9 G 8
19- 8/1	Team work	H 11, 12 G 9
WK 5	Leadership Frames
20- 8/4	Leadership Video: Roger and me	B&D 15,16,17
21- 8/5	Leadership and accountability	B&D 18,19
22- 8/6	Integration Students present summary of field project	B&D 20,21
8/6	Submission of paper
8/8	Final exam

ATTACHMENT A1: GUIDELINES FOR LEADING CLASS DISCUSSION

Each student will be in charge of leading a class discussion on a particular reading assigned for class. Your job is to stimulate discussion among class members by creating an exercise that connects key points in the reading with other readings or students’ experiences.

Time: 15 minutes

Possible ways of stimulating discussion:

· Ask students to reflect in small groups on an aspect of their lives that is related to the reading

· Ask students to write on a piece of paper personal experiences related to the reading and have them put it in a basket. Students don’t write their names on it. Then the facilitator picks at random the comments and reads them out loud for discussion

· Role play

· Show a video clip related to the reading and discuss it

· Bring an article from a newspaper or magazine and discuss how the reading relates to it

· Bring a polemical issue related to the reading

· Present a critique of the reading in three minutes and ask students to defend or critique your point of view

· Divide class into debate teams and ask them to present arguments in favor and against a position presented in the paper

· Feel free to use any other creative means of generating discussion

Your role as facilitator:

· Do not dominate the discussion, just facilitate it

· Make sure most people in class participate

· Stick to the 15 minutes limit

· Generate discussion

· Ask stimulating questions

· Be clear about the exercise you propose

· Introduce and close the exercise

· Draw conclusions from the discussion and or exercise

Students will be assessed on their ability to (each item is marked on a 0-1 scale)

1. Stimulate discussion

2. Engage all class

3. Stick to 15 minutes

4. Use of creative means

5. Introduction and closure

ATTACHMENT A2: GUIDELINES FOR CLASS PRESENTATION

Presentation time: 15 minutes

Q&A: 5 minutes

Feedback on presentation: 5 minutes

Chapter 7 in Hayes provides an excellent overview of presentation skills. Please review the chapter carefully before making your presentation. We will use the forms in pages 151-4 of Hayes’ book to provide feedback to students and to assess presentation effectiveness. Try to follow the guidelines below closely.

In general, students will be assessed on their ability to

· Introduce the topic clearly

· Stick to 15 minutes

· Provide an outline of the presentation

· Speak clearly

· Speak at appropriate speed – not too fast not too slow

· Modulate voice to create and maintain interest

· Use body language and eye contact to establish connection with the audience

· Use visuals that are clear and not overcrowded

· Use audio or visual materials that are interesting and germane to the topic

· Avoid monotone voice

· Follow logical sequence in presentation

· Have opening and concluding comments

· Have clear take home message

· Provide a short handout summarizing the presentation

· Power point is encouraged but not a must if you can have good overheads or other visuals

Following Hayes (pages 151-154), the grade for the presentation will be based on (each item is marked on a 0-1 range)

1. Introduction

2. Content and structure

3. Closure

4. Clarity of expression

5. Use of examples

6. Emphasis

7. Answering questions

8. Getting and maintaining attention

9. Use of visual aids

10. Manner of delivery and management of session

Each presenter will receive feedback from fellow students based on pages 151-154 from Hayes. The instructor will assign the grade based on the 10 points above.

ATTACHMENT A3:

GUIDELINES FOR CLASS PARTICIPATION AND ATTENDANCE

Attendance (5%)

Students will obtain 5% for perfect attendance without late arrivals. You may be excused from two classes (with proper documentation or adequate reason) without penalty. Each additional class missed will result in a .25 (quarter of a percent) deduction from your final grade. Each late arrival (defined as entering class after instruction commenced) will result in a .10 (tenth of a percent) deduction from your final grade.

Participation (10%)

Each student will obtain 10% of the final grade by participating actively in class. At the end of each week students will receive a grade for their contributions to class

0 (no meaningful participation)

1 (moderate level of participation), or

2 (excellent participation)

In order to obtain the full 10% students can contribute to class in a variety of forms:

· Ask questions related to the material

· Answer questions presented by the instructor

· Contribute to small group discussions

· Take leadership roles in small group activities

· Initiate discussion

· Provide useful feedback to other students making presentations

· Demonstrating supportive attitude toward other students making presentations

· Introduce ideas germane to the topics but not covered in the reading materials

· Connecting course material to current affairs

ATTACHMENT B: GUIDELINES FOR READING AND PREPARING FOR TESTS

The first few classes are light in readings in order to give you time to get organized and oriented to the materials. The following guidelines may help you in planning your readings and summarizing them for tests:

· Before you read a chapter, browse through it to familiarize yourself with the key topics

· As you read, make sure you highlight or summarize key points

· Never read without writing key points on the margins or a separate page

· As a general rule, try to summarize in 3 or 4 bullet points the contents of a page

· Use mnemonics and metaphors to remember key constructs. Bolman and Deal use metaphors to describe the main frames they use in the course

· After you read a chapter, prepare 5 to 8 questions for a test. If you were the instructor and had to give a test, what questions would you ask of the students about this chapter?

· Prepare both open ended and multiple choice type of questions

· When you prepare for a test, make sure you review handouts given by the instructors and by fellow students during presentations as well

· The first test will include all materials from classes 1-13 inclusive

· The final test will cover new material from classes 14-22 as well as material covered in previous classes

· The tests will consist of knowledge, application, and integration sections. Knowledge sections will test your understanding of key concepts while application sections will test your ability to use them in concrete case examples. Integration questions will ask you to compare different frames and make evaluative judgments about their relative merit in different situations

· To obtain maximum points in integration and application questions make sure you draw on a variety of approaches and make comments about what frameworks suit what situations better.

ATTACHMENT C: GUIDELINES FOR FIELD PROJECT AND PAPER

Field Project

You can do this project individually or in groups of 2 or 3 students. The guidelines below apply to each student. I expect each student to complete 5 visits and interview 2 or 3 people each. You can do the interviews in pairs, but the number of interviews should double or triple depending on the number of students participating in the group.

The project will entail the following components:

1. Select an organization in town. This can be a business, a sports club, an educational institution, a not for profit organization, or any other organization where there are people working together to achieve certain goals.

2. You will need to visit the organization approximately five times. Your visits will consist of the following:

· Visit 1: Establish contact with the organization and ask permission to visit them a few times and interview 2 or 3 people within the organization. During this visit you will obtain archival information about the organization containing organizational structure, aims and objectives, written procedures, mission statement, etc. Try to obtain whatever public documents the company may have available for the public. Read the materials before your next visit to the organization.

· Visit 2: Spend about 2 hours within the organization observing what people do. This can be attending a staff meeting, observing how workers serve clients, how managers operate, how workers manufacture products of how nurses deal with patients. The main objective of this visit is for you to get a feel for what people do in the organization.

· Visit 3: Interview a manager or a person in a position of authority within the organization. During this interview you will need to find answers to the following questions:

i. What is the main aim of the company, agency or organization? What do they do, what is the mission statement, how they came about, etc.

ii. What is the organizational structure of the company or agency? Hierarchy, number of employees, divisions within the company, layers within the company, etc.

iii. What are, according to managers or workers, (depending on who you are interviewing) the main characteristics of a successful employee and an accomplished manager? What type of skills do they have? What do they do that makes them successful? How are they unique?

iv. What are the strengths of the organization? What do they do well, what are their assets and achievements, what are people proud of, etc.

v. What structures, activities or operations are in place to foster strengths and promote staff and organizational development? What type of structures such as staff meetings, retreats, supervision, team meetings, total quality management, peer consultation, conferences, outings, etc, can they identify as helping growth in the company?

vi. What are the main current challenges of the organization? What are some current difficulties, what do people perceive as problematic within the organization, what are some sources of frustration within the company, etc.

vii. What are some of the strategies used by the manager to deal with the challenges? What is being done to resolve the issues, what strategies are in place to minimize the problems, what resources may be used to overcome the challenges, etc.

· Visit 4: Interview two workers using the same questions presented above to the managers. You can interview the two workers together or separately; it is your choice. Whenever it says manager replace with worker and vice versa, depending on the person you are interviewing.

· Visit 5: Present to the manager and the workers a summary of the paper you will write based on the interviews and literature covered in class. This will consist of a 3-page summary of the paper you will submit to the instructor. In the paper you will interpret the strengths and challenges of the organization in light of the four different frames reviewed in Bolman and Deal and in light of the concept of emotional intelligence. The aim is to provide to the organization useful material for the resolution of their issues and for the strengthening of their human or organizational assets. Your summary may include, for example, Goleman’s table 1 on pages 26-27. This material may be useful to the organization.

3. You will reassure the company that the findings of the interviews and observations will remain confidential and will be used only for the purpose of learning. Only the professor and other students will hear about the issues raised in the project. The material will only be used for class presentation and for the assignment

4. As guests in the working environment, students will behave in a professional manner and will do their best not to interfere with the operations of the organization. Interviews should be kept to approximately 30 minutes to minimize disruption. Upon completion of the project, students will give something back to the organization by submitting a summary of their paper with recommendations.

5. Part of your learning experience is to formulate the questions presented in point 2 above into interview questions with probes that are easy to understand. Chapter 6 of Hayes contains useful guidelines for data gathering and for conducting interviews.

6. Please note that the requirements listed above are the minimal expectations. If you have the opportunity to interview more people and to spend more time in the organization, your knowledge of the place will increase and so will, in all likelihood, the quality of your paper. The more information you obtain about the organization, the better your paper will be.

Paper (25% of grade)

The main objective of the paper is to understand the strengths and challenges of the organization you explored and to interpret them using the organizational frames presented by Bolman and Deal. Another important aim is to understand the role of emotional intelligence in the organizational context. To achieve these aims you need to gather sufficient information during the interviews and you need to read whatever printed material is available on the company, including public relations materials and website information. Following an analysis using the four frames and the concept of emotional intelligence, you will formulate recommendations for action.

The paper will consist of the following sections: (Total length approximately 20 pages, excluding appendices)

I. Overview of the organization: Aims, mission statement, brief history, and organizational structure. You can include an organizational chart to illustrate the various layers within the organization. Suggested length 2 pages – This section is worth 1/25.

II. Organizational strengths: Based on the information you obtained, what are the strengths of the company. List them and discuss them. Provide evidence for the statements you make. In certain cases, you can research the company from public records or other printed information. For example, you can learn about Peabody College from the US News and World Report ranking of universities, or you can learn about McDonald’s from business literature. 2 pages – 1/25

III. Organizational development: Based on your interviews and research, what type of organizational development takes place in the working environment? How do they promote strengths? How do they worry about staff morale and interpersonal understanding? 1-2 pages – 1/25

IV. Characteristics of successful managers and employees: What answers did you get to questions about the qualities of successful employees and managers? How do theirs answers compare to the skills of emotional intelligent people described by Goleman? Based on your interactions and observations, can you recognize people in the company with better emotional intelligence than others? Are there any people who excel at emotional intelligence? Comment on your impressions of emotional intelligence in the company in light of Goleman’s theory. 3 pages – 3/25

V. Organizational challenges: What are the weaknesses and challenges facing the organization? Are there differences between what you heard from managers and from workers? Are these challenges unique to this outlet or are they shared by other organizations in the sector? Are the challenges based on structural or personality issues? 2 pages – 2/25

VI. Application of frames to strengths and challenges: Discuss the strengths and challenges using the four frames presented by Bolman and Deal. Each frame has strengths and weaknesses. Discuss critically the merits and disadvantages of using the various frames for understanding the issues facing the organization. You can compare the benefits of using a particular frame for understanding the challenges of the organization. A comparative analysis will help you see what frames are most useful for helping the organization to move ahead. You can also compare this organization with others in the sector. How come this one is doing better or worst than others? How come people in this company are happier or more depressed than people in other companies in the same sector? 4-5 pages – 5/25

VII. Recommendations for action: In this section you need to formulate recommendations to help the organization maintain its strengths and overcome its challenges. Once again, based on the four frames, discuss what is the best combination of frames to help managers and workers to make progress. 2 pages – 2/25

VIII. Limitations and conclusions: Remember that the amount of information you will obtain about the organization may be limited. Therefore, your conclusions will have limitations. If you had more time, your analysis would be more comprehensive. State limitations and draw conclusions from your study. 2 pages – 1/25

IX. Appendix A -- Logbook: Please include a logbook with the times, activities, and observations of each of your visits to the organization. For each visit, record (a) date, time, duration of visit; (b) activity undertaken such as interview, observation, review materials, etc, (c) about 5 to 15 lines of personal observations regarding the visit. The latter may include your impressions of how people feel in the place, what is the organizational climate, how are customers treated, etc. .5/25

X. Appendix B – Interview guide: Insert here the exact wording of the questions and probes used during the interviews. .5/25

XI. Appendix C – Organizational Observation: Develop a brief observational tool for your organizational observation. Decide ahead of time what type of things you will be looking for in the organization. Will you be looking at how people interact with each other? Will you look at what people do? How often do they take breaks? Do they laugh? What is the climate like in the place? This does not have to be an elaborate tool. Following description of the tool write about a page summarizing your observations. 1/25

XII. Appendix D – Copy of summary of recommendations submitted to the organization. Remember to be modest and humble in your recommendations. After all, this is not a comprehensive consultation process. Consider giving the organization something they can use, like a summary of the four frames (see table 1.1 in Bolman and Deal, page 15) or the main skills of emotional intelligence (see table 1 in Goleman). You can make some comments about how these concepts relate to the challenges and strengths of the organization. 1/25

Paper grading criteria

Sources for the paper: In general terms, I don’t expect students to do extensive library research for this paper. I expect students to rely on the three books used in class. In addition, I expect you to use 4 other sources from the library. These may be articles or books related to the topic of discussion. You may incorporate additional sources in any of the various sections of the paper. Demonstration of extensive reading and library research will increase your chances of obtaining a better grade. When using references, please follow APA Manual 5^th edition. 1/25

Format and Length: Please use APA Manual 5^th edition for formatting. Include an abstract, a title page, author’s address, etc. Kindly follow closely the guidelines, as if you were going to send this paper for publication. The manual contains specific instructions for formatting. Please follow the guidelines stated above for length of various sections. 1/25

Clear organization and flow: 2/25

Clarity of expression: 2/25

Total of all sections and criteria: 25/100 of total course grade.

General Marking Guidelines:

An "A" Paper/Essay: A paper that is exceptional. It is interesting or unusual and demonstrates sophistication of thought. The main points are clear, complex, well developed, and well supported. The structure of the paper follows a clear logical organization, and all sources are critically examined. It is free of grammatical and spelling errors. An “A+” paper will rely on the readings assigned in class plus additional sources from the library. Although I don’t expect you to do more library research to fulfill the assignment, your grade will definitely improve if you show that you have explored the literature beyond the basic readings from the course.

A "B" Paper/Essay: A paper that is solid and fulfills the assignment. It has a clear argument but minor lapses in development. It touches on the complexity of the argument and shows careful reading of the sources. The structure follows a logical progression of ideas, but not all evidence is clearly related to the main ideas. It may contain a few grammatical problems, but not enough to make reading difficult.

A "C" Paper/Essay: A paper that is adequate but less effective in responding to the assignment. It presents the central idea in general terms and demonstrates basic comprehension of the sources. It is difficult to find a logical structure to the argument, and the paper often relies on generalizations or unrelated examples. Sentences may be awkward or confusing enough to make reading difficult.

A "D" Paper/Essay: A paper that does not have a clear argument or does not respond to the assignment. The argument may be too vague or obvious to be developed, and there is little complexity to the ideas. The organization can be difficult to follow, and the paper offers insufficient evidence.

An "F" Paper/Essay: A paper that does not respond to the assignment, has no central argument, and uses no sources. There is little apparent organization. There is no supporting evidence, or it is irrelevant.

Project Presentation (5% of grade)

During the last class of the course students will present in 8 minutes a summary of their field project. The summary presentation should include the same sections of the paper but should focus on the challenges and recommendations. Your grade will be based on the following:

1. Ability to stay within the 8 minute timeframe

2. Succinct presentation of strengths and challenges

3. Clear application of Four Frames

4. Discussion of emotional intelligence in the organizational context

5. Recommendations for action